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Start-ups

Start-ups
Articles about early-stage companies; pre-IPO, including those still being funded by angel investors, private equity or venture capitalists.
Contemporary Amperex Technology makes another semiconductor-related investment. Photo: Shutterstock
Semiconductors

Chinese EV battery giant CATL and Guoxin Micro set up a new automotive chip firm

The two firms expect to launch Tongxin Micro Technology as a developer of automotive domain controller chips.

Artificial intelligence

China’s AI toy boom: Huawei, JD.com, UBTech make big push into growing sector

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance, other major Chinese tech firms lead local consumer AI market: report

Robotics

China’s AgiBot aims for US$142 million revenue as humanoid robots gain momentum

Fast-growing robotics start-up expects to ship out 5,000 units in 2025 amid Beijing backing of the embodied intelligence industry.

A customer communicates with an AgiBot humanoid robot at a car dealership in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

China’s Zhipu and MiniMax release latest AI models ahead of Hong Kong listing

The near-simultaneous release on Monday underscores the two firms’ efforts to drum up interest for their respective Hong Kong IPOs.

TikTok

Exclusive | TikTok owner ByteDance’s valuation hits US$500 billion as US plan advances

Figure marks a record for China’s tech giant, which will divest its US entity into a joint venture that includes Oracle and Silver Lake.

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IPO

Chinese GPU maker Biren kicks off bookbuilding for US$624 million Hong Kong IPO

The company, which is selling 247.7 million shares between HK$17 and HK$19.60 each, will become the first listing of 2026 on January 2.

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Biren’s IPO has attracted 23 cornerstone investors, including major asset management firms, domestic mutual funds and insurers. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

SenseTime pushes open-source AI model to provide a ‘smart brain’ for every robot

The Chinese AI pioneer also releases first robot dogs under new venture Ace Robotics.

Robotics

CATL marks trailblazing deployment of humanoid robots at scale in China plant

The initiative underscores the growing use of intelligent Chinese-made robots in the country’s manufacturing industry.

Artificial intelligence

Xiaomi launches open-source model to compete against DeepSeek, OpenAI systems

MiMo-V2-Flash ‘particularly excels in reasoning, coding and agentic scenarios’, Xiaomi says.

Xiaomi’s open-source AI model, MiMo-V2-Flash, is available on the company’s developer site MiMo Studio, Hugging Face and the API Platform. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

OpenAI in talks to raise US$10 billion from Amazon and adopt Trainium chips

The deal is under discussion could value OpenAI upwards of US$500 billion, a source said.

OpenAI was last valued at US$500 billion in an employee share sale. Photo: Reuters
China technology

Video | Humanoid robots take centre stage at Shanghai summit

Competitions mainly focused on robotic applications in industrial assembly, home services, flower arranging, healthcare and elderly care, as well as restaurant services.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese expert calls for world models and safety standards for embodied AI

Turing Award winner Andrew Yao says embodied AI needs reasoning, planning and control in one framework.

US-China tech war

Kimi developer Moonshot shows China’s growing AI depth: US government report

Washington’s evaluation highlights an increasing number of Chinese companies developing world-leading open-weight AI models, not just DeepSeek.

Moonshot’s flagship Kimi K2 Thinking model has stunned the global AI community with its impressive writing skills. Photo: Shutterstock
United States

China’s AI sector poised for growth despite US restrictions: venture capitalist

China’s AI sector gains confidence with DeepSeek’s emergence, but tech ecosystem needs to improve, GSR United Capital’s Zhou Qi says.

China and the US are the two top players in global AI development, with the former leading in humanoid robotics and open-source large language models, according to a venture capitalist. Photo: Reuters
Made in China 2025

China’s Unitree teases platform allowing users to control robots via smartphones

Hangzhou robotics unicorn’s platform is designed to bring embodied intelligence into everyday life.

Artificial intelligence

Sea change: China narrows AI gap with US 3 years after ChatGPT shock

The turning point came when DeepSeek released its V3 and R1 models, which were on par with OpenAI’s GPT and Meta’s Llama models at the time.

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China-Africa relations

Entrepreneurs vie for Africa’s Business Heroes titles in start-up bonanza

Record 32,000 applications from 54 nations vie for seventh Africa’s Business Heroes awards to recognise 100 start-ups over 10 years.

A record 32,000 entrepreneurs applied for the 7th Africa’s Business Heroes competition in Kigali, Rwanda, on December 13, 2025. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

China’s Xreal to power Google’s Android AI glasses as smart eyewear demand grows

Project Aura, which features dual-chip design and optical see-through lenses, is a fresh example of China’s expanding R&D capabilities.

Robotics

China’s Deep Robotics raises US$70 million as sector draws more investors

Company founder Zhu Qiuguo says the new funding would be used for research and the recruitment of top robotics talent.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese open-source models account for 30% of global AI use: report

Producing globally competitive models makes China a close peer of the US in AI development.

Open-source AI models from Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen and DeepSeek are driving the international adoption of Chinese large language models. Photo: Shutterstock
Made in China 2025

China’s Pudu Robotics rolls out overseas charm offensive with robot dog

Quadruped dubbed D5 from Pudu – founded by former HKUST engineering student Felix Zhang – draws crowds at Tokyo expo.

Pudu Robotics’ latest quadruped model, D5, debuted at IREX. Photo: Wency Chen
Artificial intelligence

Can China fund its AI push? Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt casts doubt

Capital from the government and Big Tech firms is set to make up for any lack of market-driven capital, analysts say.

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Banking & finance

Hong Kong’s investment body posts US$300 million income in first year

Every dollar invested by the HKIC has attracted more than six in long-term market capital, Financial Secretary Paul Chan says.

Robotics

Shenzhen robotics start-up Daimon secures China Mobile backing for AI push

Daimon Robotics, co-founded by HKUST professor Wang Yu, received a fresh injection of funds from the mobile operator’s Lianchang Fund.

Daimon Robotics Technology said Lianchang Fund, backed by China’s largest mobile operator, has invested in the company. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

OpenAI CEO declares ‘code red’ to improve ChatGPT as rivals move in

The call comes after Google released its Gemini 3 AI model last month that gained praise for its capacity to reason and code.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS
Robotics

Tsinghua University sets up research institute in push for robotics talent

The Institute for Embodied Intelligence and Robotics will be led by Zhang Tao, director of the university’s automation department.

Robotics

Chinese schools offer ‘embodied intelligence’ courses to aid robotics industry

Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University are among seven schools that plan to offer ‘embodied intelligence’ as a new major.

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